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(IAAC) ANOTHER Fwd re: Who's Afraid of Einstein's Cross?




Thought this whole thread was of interest: too bad most of it occurred
on the "bigdob" Telescope mailing list! Here's just one sample post: if
you respond, please put the above two addresses in your 'Cc:' line, as
neither Andy nor Rich are currently IAAC subscribers. Also, you might
just suggest they join us over here on the IAAC list! :)

PS: Owen, are you aware of anyone who has reported a sighting of this
Gravitational Lens to the Webb Society?

Clear skies for the Leonids all!
Lew Gramer <owner-netastrocatalog@latrade.com>


------- Forwarded Message

Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 16:43:42 -0600
From: Andy Wallace <andywallace@home.com>
Organization: Anderson Wallace, Jr. P.C., Attorneys
To: deepsky@mindspring.com
Cc: mbartels@efn.org, bigdob-l@ucsd.edu
Subject: Re: Who's Afraid of Einstein's Cross?

Rich--

A psychologist friend of mine tells me the human brain has its own
very powerful image enhancement program. He claims that there are
many studies that establish that, for example, a more experienced
observer would be expected to see more because his brain knows what
it is looking for and will "fill in the gaps". Perhaps a real test
would be to put a novice at the eyepiece and let him describe what
he sees. Reminds me of the audiofiles who claim they can hear the
difference between different speaker cables but can't perform in
double blind tests. I am sure Barbara believes she saw the Cross:
whether she actually did is very difficult to sort out.

Clear skies,  Andy

Richard Jakiel wrote:
> Mel Bartels wrote:
> >
> > ...just to point out that Einstein's Cross has been observed by Barbara Wilson
> > with a 20", and I've heard of it being glimpsed in even smaller scopes... can
> > anyone else add to this?
>
> I've heard of these observations, too. But after reading up on the
> details of this object, I'm will doubt _all_ observations made until I
> hear the specific details on conditions and instrumentation used. This
> can be considered a challenge, much like one finds in professional
> journals.
>
> Remember, just resolving a 'multiple' star system of 17-18th+ mag. would
> be a major challenge in itself. Add a galactic nucleus in the center,
> plus light from the surrounding halo and you made matters worse by an
> order of magnitude.
>
> Just think about the particulars on observing the 2nd star in the ring.
> Its only a single ~16.2 to 16.5 star in nebulousity. A full mag fainter
> than the brightest member of the Cross. Most of 'us' would agree that it
> would take a 18+ inch at high mag. for good confirmation. Now a 20-inch
> can pull out 2 out of 4 components, both of which are >17 mag?
>
> I'd like to review all the particulars, not just the reputations of the
> observers. If I get the chance, I'll try this object with the Puckett
> Observatory 24-inch at > 1000x and post my results.
>
> Doing my scientific best to pose a challenge,
>
> Rich Jakiel (resident heretic)

------- End of Forwarded Message



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